reason #266 why I love this city

^^So these have nothing to do with the story, but they could qualify for reason #267 why I love living here.
 Walks around Old Town are made perfect by lovely flowers to accompany the brick sidewalks.^^

It's an ideal spring day outside: sunny with some clouds, perfect temperature, gusts wind to keep me cool; and I'm on the last leg of a pleasant three mile run on the trail. I've had quite the throwback to high school with my selection of Snow Patrol's Final Straw album, and all in all it's just a good run. With 200 yards to go though, something else has caught my attention: the 10+ police motorcycle escorts tag-teaming with at least 5 additional police cars ambling along on the parkway. Curiosity, as always, beats out the inner desire to have a good time, & I stop to watch along with a few cyclists. 

Just as one cyclist is telling me it could be David Cameron, I realize what the hubbub really is about: this is the group of policemen who have cycled from Richmond this morning {after starting in Charlotte, NC} in honor of National Police Week. 500 miles in 4 days. The pack by this point was 30+ strong all in varying shades of black, blue, and white, & seeing them on their last leg made me smile & realize once again that this big ole world is bigger than just me & the small-minded concerns about my life. It's about listening to & serving others, just as these incredible policemen do every day. So once again DC, thanks for the reminder & many thanks for timing my run to coincide with their journey.

remember the time... {vol. IV}

I mean really, can tulips be any more beautiful? Such simplicity & no thorns to speak of, truly the best flower out there, or so I think anyway ;)

{lately}

+ husmate told me before he went to bed one night that he had a "fun" surprise for me in his lunch container, & little ole me, hoping the fun surprise would be some sort of chocolate dessert item, unzipped it to find around 30 barely used ziplocs from all the turkey wraps he took to work {& all I heard was snickering coming from our bedroom?}. That, sir, was NOT the fun surprise I was hoping for. I think you owe me a cookie. 

+ we discovered just how incredible it is to start our runs from Gravelly Point Park & run towards the District? We ran until we reached the Arlington Memorial Bridge & looked to our right & spotted our memorial friends, Washington & Lincoln, from across the river. I don't know if our views while running could get any better... & to top it off, we turned around in time to throw the frisbee at the park as the planes took off over our heads & the sun set around us. Terrific end to a weekday. 

+ we started quoting Gus & Shawn on the reg from Psych? Personal favorite: when they mock Simon Baker on The Mentalist. Truly some of the hardest laughter & quickest one-liners we've had in this beauty of a marriage. It's even funnier when our friends, Emily & Josh, join along. You know that's right.

+ we came across our favorite Old Town pup to date, the ever curious Fenway, who got so easily distracted during her walk with her owner that they got separated by a quarter of a mile. I suppose I can understand what the distraction was: a bright orange ball lodged in the rocks of the Oronocco Bay Park is totally more important to pay attention to than one's owner. But I hope I never forget that Fenway's hilarious owner called her from afar, yelling, "Come here ya, idiot!" in a lighthearted voice & Fenway looked up with a look of "Oh! Whoops. I'm coming! I'm coming!" and bounded on to catch up with her. Now that's a true understanding between master & dog right there. 


{auld lang syne}

+ husmate delivered that awesome proposal? Yeah, you still have a reserve of brownie points from it. ;)

+ when late April would mean chaco weather, shorts season, & the occasional sunburned nose? We aren't quite there yet, but honestly I can handle long sleeve t-shirts, jeans, & fleece pullovers this late in the game so long as the triple digit degree days are limited. I drink too little of water & have too thick of wavy/curly hair to enjoy the weather that is overly hot & humid summer days.

remember the time... {vol. III}

{lately}

+ Husmate & I have formed a new couple crush on our newlywed friends, Emily & Josh. To the extent that my early-to-bed-early-to-rise husband couldn't tear himself away from a weekday game night of Monopoly with those two that almost lasted until midnight. And for the record, Emily may seem friendly and polite but she's ruthless when it comes to her ownership of Boardwalk & Park Place {& the three or four houses she built there, bankrupting us all}.

+ Many thanks to the trail for introducing another animal that I had to stop & stare at while on a run {while all the fast people passed me & wondered what that crazy girl was up to}. Meet our newest neighbors: the muskrats, who sadly are not river otters, like I had hoped they would be. {muskrats, you otter be otters if you want more friends...} Also, I am officially not the slowest person running the trail these days. Three cheers to me for passing at least a few others {while the rest continue to sprint past in their beast modes}... 

Picture cred to wikipedia, the ever trustworthy source

+ The wriggly, shadowy creature that resides in our apartment has been spotted again. Again he was spotted by me, and again husmate didn't see him the next morning anywhere. But I stand by what I saw, and I am not making it up. I have now resorted to calling him Lizard and trying to coax him out at night before husmate goes to sleep {Yeah, now you know I'm occasionally weird}.

{auld lang syne}

+ Husmate & I got married 11 months ago today. Where did the time go? 

remember the time... {vol. II}

{lately}

+ After deciding I wanted to buy a hula hoop (yes, you read that correctly), we drove to the store and searched all over; the only ones we could find had a super cool feature of lighting up... I'm so mature. The looks we got as we tested out what size hula hoop was appropriate was the highlight of my day, as well as the inevitable giggling that I couldn't stifle. Don't forget the embarrassment we attempted to avoid when one of our neighbors was outside upon our arrival home and we left the glittery turquoise hula hoop in the car... "by accident."

+ After seeing all the running warriors around us in Alexandria conquering the freezing cold, we worked up the courage to go together one afternoon. We were very convincing up until the wind became so brutal on our warm down that we promptly turned around and cut our walk short by a mile or more... Our southern blood has ruined us. 

+ Before leaving for work one morning, husmate kissed me goodbye on my forehead while I was asleep and apparently I kissed the air in reaction. Smoooch! And then giggled when he laughed at me. And was asleep the whole time. Deep sleeper over here, guys.

+ For two months, we both thought that the spare set of keys to my car (aka husmate's set) was lost forever and that he had misplaced them/fell out of his pocket on a walk to Old Town... And then they reappeared one morning... in the pocket of one of wifey's peacoats. Whoops, my bad. Sorry husmate for giving you the blame! You can have full key privileges again #wifeyfail

+ I saw a shadowy creature scurry around our apartment late one night, and I woke up a groggy husmate to search under the refrigerator/oven/couch/desk for it. He's such a sport, even though I think he thinks I'm crazy considering he never found the speedy 4" monster... And he wasn't even fully awake in his search & destroy mission.

{auld lang syne}

+ We both verbally agreed to sign up for a half marathon together during our dating days, annnnnndddd wifey dropped the ball and missed the deadline (after husmate reminded wifey 7 x 70 times to sign up). Husmate was left to suffer through a half marathon solo (& underprepared, also due to wifey's fault ;) ). Well the time has come that due to marriage & not being allowed to squirm out of it, we will both be signing up for one again this year. Now just to decide on which one to run?

+ The day after we got engaged in DC, the weather was so. dang. windy. that when we walked to revisit our bench we had to lean into the wind just so we could keep moving forward {for once, I'm not exaggerating because that was the day the National Christmas tree fell over}. Lately the wind around here has been pretty sassy, but so far no fallen trees (of course, there's no replacement Christmas tree currently to fight the bully of the breeze either).

& in case you missed last week:

be still

letters of the nonsensical variety

letters of the nonsensical variety

Dear Postman, at first I started to think you had forgotten about my J. Crew jeans when my package was noticeably absent, but you greatly impressed me by stuffing them into my little apartment mailbox instead. You, sir, deserve a gold star in packing efficiency and should probably hold a seminar on how to properly pack a carry-on so as best to avoid airline charges. Dear Mr. Huxley, I know I praised you in high school for a job well done on Brave New World, but really, job well done. After recently reading it again, I still freak out about the world to come. But don't worry, I shall bring God and Shakespeare with me. Probably more God than Shakespeare though (I gotta be honest). Dear Sarah, thanks for reassuring me after I read BNW that I was just feeling the "the weight" on my shoulders, and that this too will pass. Dear Modern Family, thank you for understanding what I meant about parents & kids being friends when Claire asked Haley on a date. You get me every time. I especially loved the analogy: "Raising a kid is like sending a rocket ship to the moon. You spend the early years in constant contact and then one day, around the teenage years, they go around the dark side and they're gone. All you can do is wait for that faint signal that says they're coming back." Hey parents, I'm baaaaackkk! Dear weather, you befuddle me. Yesterday was delightfully cool. Perfect running conditions. Dare I say it, spring weather-like? Today, we're getting our first "real" snow of the season. In March. Are you hormonal? Let's work on that. Dear first week back of running, I both love and hate you. Thank you for reminding me that I am woefully out of shape. When a woman three times my age zoomed past me on the trail, I finally got it. Dear husmate, your enthusiasm for learning something new is quite possibly the cutest thing. ever. When your books came in the mail the other day, you would have thought it was Christmas morning. I can't wait to see you really get into your new skill. :) Also, Michael Buble is the cheesiest. I apologize that my Avett/Mumford love makes me skeptical of your acceptance of Buble. Let's work on that, shall we?